Nina and Jake Hayes have just had the worst fight of their marriage, one that has recently been marred by just a few too many disagreements. But this was the kind of quarrel where hurtful words, the kind that cause lasting injury and can’t be taken back, were exchanged. So when Jake doesn’t come home the following night, she just assumes he’s being spiteful, too angry to look at her right now, and checked into some posh hotel in town. The following day, however, he still hasn’t come home. Or returned any of her calls or texts. Yet it isn’t until she gets a phone call from the hospital where Jake works as a neurosurgeon that she begins to truly begin to worry. And by then she hasn’t seen him in three days.
Meanwhile, Lily Scott, Nina’s friend and fellow teacher, has been acting oddly around her husband, Christian. Nervous and distant, he finds her staring off into space when he gets home from work one evening. But she refuses to say anything about what has pushed her to the edge. Afraid to prod, he lets her be until the following day when Lily asks him to leave work early. Something is clearly wrong.
Walking into their living room, he sees in an instant that his gut was right. Lily finally divulges the whole truth: that she believes she was the last person to see Jake before he disappeared. Together, they agree that this should be kept between the two of them. No one, especially Nina, should learn what she knows.
Nina, however, after taking her concerns to the police, feels that they aren’t taking Jake’s disappearance as seriously as she believes they should. She decides that if they won’t discover what has become of her husband, then she will. But the deeper she digs, the closer she gets to the secret that the Scotts are protecting. So Lily and Christian do the only thing they feel they can and begin to put more space between Lily and what they believe happened to him. But will this all actually be their undoing in the end? Step by step each makes their move. The only question that remains is: who will get to checkmate first?
Having read the reviews before beginning Just the Nicest Couple, I learned that its reception was incredibly mixed. After finishing, I now know why. Because between the Good and the Bad of this novel (of which there were both), it was still a story I, for the most part, really enjoyed reading. So, while the storyline was addictive and relatively unputdownable, little things did eat at me throughout. Aspects that repetitively rankled and left me disappointed in this highly anticipated new release. Let me explain.
Told in dual mostly alternating POVs, each narrator (Christian and Nina) caused me mild irritation. Despite both having very real motivations behind their deeds, some of their reactions and thoughts were uncomfortably melodramatic. Nina in her naivety and Christian with his pinballing emotional state. But, while I found them difficult to swallow, I have never been in either’s shoes with regards to what they were experiencing and so their thoughts and reactions could very well have been authentic and true-to-life. It just didn’t read like it was for me.
All of this being said, however, I found myself firmly choosing one side of their matched wits (or sometimes lack of them) as they each made moves to achieve their goals. So I obviously connected with them even if I found myself saying “Wait, what?!” one too many times at their seriously stupid decision making. You’ll see what I mean when you read the book (don’t want to elaborate and ruin the plot) as I definitely recommend it if the synopsis sounds intriguing.
The second big hang-up was how little happened within the plot for a large chunk of the book. I kept waiting for what I hear is Mary Kubica’s trademark mind-blowing twist and, while there certainly was one (and it was positively earth-shattering), it came at the last minute, leaving very little time to explore the ramifications of what happened. Equally, I wasn’t thrilled with the ending despite how it satisfactorily resolved all of the remaining hanging threads of the story. I guess I was simply hoping for a little, well, more.
All of this, however, don’t keep me from truly loving this book. Because the game of chess performed between the two sides revolved around some deadly serious lies and secrets. Many that made me shake my head in frustration, but also hungrily turn the page all at the same time. Plus, I found plenty of great twists (which I sometimes sadly predicted but enjoyed nonetheless) filled with red herrings as well as some truly superb tension.
After all is said and done, Kubica is quite obviously a talented writer. So, while I didn’t love or hate Just the Nicest Couple, the ride it took me on was one that I look forward to repeating with the author’s other highly regarded books. Now I just need to pick my poison. Any suggestions? Rating of 3.5 stars.
Trigger warning: miscarriage, cancer, vision loss, fertility problems, possible attempted rape, physical assault, PTSD, controlling relationship, breaking and entering